Sir Speedy Zooms Into China
By CHRIS CZIBORR
Sir Speedy Inc., a Mission Viejo franchiser of digital printing centers, said it plans to open 200 centers in China in the next five years.
The company has inked a franchise pact with Shanghai Matsuoka Co., which will hold rights to the China Sir Speedy outlets.
Sir Speedy’s discussions with Matsuoka were quite speedy,Sir Speedy’s initial meeting with the Shanghai company was in January, leading to a flurry of trans-Pacific telephone calls and e-mails in the following months, according to Dan Beck, the company’s president. The deal was signed in May and announced last week.
The first two centers are set to open later this year,the first Shanghai store opens in August and the first Beijing store is slated to open in November.
“We now have a team of four Matsuoka people here in Mission Viejo going through training,” Beck said. “They plan to make a statement,they’ve taken two real showcase locations to open their first two stores.”
Shanghai-based Matsuoka is one of China’s largest textile and printing companies. The company prints two-thirds of China’s value-added tax invoices.
“The potential for short-run printing and document services with a global reach is significant throughout China,” said Li Qinfu, Matsuoka president.
Matsuoka plans to open about 30 Sir Speedy centers by 2004, with the rest opening by 2007.
“Commercial printing is big time in China,we were amazed at how many presses are actually in the country, but there is very little in the way of digital printing vendors,” Beck said.
China has 30 high-end color digital printing outlets nationwide, most of them owned by Tokyo-based Ricoh Co., Tokyo-based Fuji Xerox Co. and Venlo, Netherlands-based Oc & #233; Technologies BV.
Matsuoka will own the first 50 Sir Speedy stores. The rest will be some combination of franchises and Matsu-oka-owned.
“Matsuoka will do a lot of the capitalization,” Beck said. “There isn’t a huge middle class in China, so finding financing and leasing sources will be difficult,part of their plan will be to get young educated people to take over franchises eventually.”
Matsuoka will spend about $3 million to set up the first two stores.
Dallas-based Kinko’s Inc. counts one China store and Salt Lake City-based Alpha-Graphics Inc. also has a presence there, according to Beck, who said that those two companies are the only other U.S.-based printing franchise chains in China.
Beck said he expected other companies to jump into the Chinese market on Sir Speedy’s heels.
Sir Speedy has more than 1,000 shops in 30 countries. Its franchises count 5,000 workers and $400 million in revenue last year, about the same as the previous year.
“The economy has been a challenge for the printing industry the past couple of years,” Beck said. “I’m hoping 2002 will match 2001 revenue.”
